Is the FDA Being Bought by Drugmakers?

The FDA commissioner defended the fee paid by the drug makers that fund the review and approval process of their medication claiming that the money received does not sway the approval process. The program will be up for renewal by the Congress this year, and will be required to undergo a vote in order to continue. The program which was started in 1992, has helped to decrease the time for a drug to receive approval by allowing the FDA enough funding to hire more staff. Reported by Reuters, FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach said the funding does not affect how the FDA approves medication. "No one is buying the FDA," von Eschenbach said at a meeting to gather public input on the program. "The FDA knows that our actions and our decisions require adequate resources," View the rest of this article